Seriously, the PSP gets so many exclusive (Japanese) games, huge Squeenix games, classic franchise revivals, and niche games. If the hardware is similar enough for the Wii to port down to, why aren't PSP games ever ported up to the Wii? Japanese devs are always talking about how they have to shift their focus to appeal to a global audience. Well, shit don't get more global than the Wii (except for the DS). Is Squeenix really going to be satisfied with the brief, flickering flame of sales they will get for, say, Final Fantasy Agito XIII and Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep on the PSP in America and Europe? Why not get some global exposure and build a fanbase for their games with a quick, cheap Wii port? Do they, in fact, genuinely dislike sales, like Rockstar, apparently, with their lack of GTA 3 Trilogy on the Wii?

My actual motivation for this post is that I want Ultimate Ghosts'n'Goblins and Mega Man Powered Up (and a few others), but I don't want to buy a PSP just for those two games.

Yeah, that stuff is also kind of puzzling. Like, wouldn't Atlus WANT to establish a beachfront on the most successful system in the world? It might be a pain to port 360/PS3 games, but PS2 and PSP stuff should be a piece of cake.

NIS is doing Sakura Wars cross-platform, but they're kind of gimping the Wii version, which is stupid, because only passionate gamers would even care about the franchise. I wonder what conclusion they will draw when it sells far less.

These choices are even more puzzling when you consider the piracy rate on the PSP. I heard on a recent podcast that Rockstar is just pissed at Sony about it. Three times as many people are playing Chinatown Wars as there are people who bought it.

That's the fascinating thing about the PSP. Sony targeted it DIRECTLY at an audience who has absolutely no compunction about pirating anything and everything they want. The Wii and DS are just as hackable, but nowhere NEAR as hacked (then again, the crowd who'd want these types of ports are more likely to be modders).

The healthy software support for the PSP really puzzles me. It's like Japanese developers see the sales of Monster Hunter and Final Fantasy and think, "The PSP is a fertile land of milk and honey", despite those being isolated (and regional) cases. Perhaps third-parties, for whatever reason, really and truly don't want to support Nintendo platforms. (That said, the Japanese audience for Wii and DS does often ignore quality releases that aren't attached to a strong brand (that said, so does the rest of Japan, these days).)

I was just thinking that the Wii could use another good fighting game outside of Brawl and Tatsunoko vs Capcom. I remember Soulcalibur II sold like hotcakes on Gamecube, and I remember being confused that the Wii got this sloppy, action/adventure waggle-fest spin-off of Soulcalibur instead of a proper game in the series. WTF?

If Namco wants to make some money, port Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny to Wii, add in online multiplayer, and replace exclusive character Kratos with Link and watch as the game flies off shelves and the money starts pouring in.

And heck, if they're feeling really ambitious, they could add not only Link, but Ganondorf as well. Instant success, I say. I can't be the first one to think of this. Right?

NIS is doing Sakura Wars cross-platform, but they're kind of gimping the Wii version, which is stupid, because only passionate gamers would even care about the franchise. I wonder what conclusion they will draw when it sells far less.

What are they gimping in the Wii version?!

It always seemed weird to me that the PS2 got a few major exclusives AFTER the Wii released, and I practically got attacked when I posted on the WiiGB that Persona 4 should have come to the Wii. Of course, early sales numbers of certain PS2/Wii games showed the PS2 version selling superior, but so what? So do sales numbers of 360/PS3 games showing the 360 version selling superior, doesn't stop every 3rd party 360 game from getting a PS3 version. And besides, I think more recent sales numbers of PS2/Wii games showed better Wii numbers.

As for PSP, no clue. It's pretty strange. If the Wii were a normal console I'd say developers don't want to flood it with low end ports, but it got plenty of those from other sources, and it still gets PS1/etc. remakes.

I'm still really pissed about Sakura Wars. I'm sending a message to them right now. Here's what I typed:

I am so disappointed with you guys. Why will the Wii version of Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love not include the Japanese voice track? Are you seriously going out of your way to make the Wii version worse than the PS2 version? Do you not like money? What sense does it make to intentionally gimp one version of the game over another version, when there's no reason to? If the Wii version ends up underperforming in comparison to the PS2 version, do me a favor and don't complain about there being no "audience" for this type of game on the Wii. You'll only have yourselves to blame, for intentionally leaving out the Japanese voice track.

Honestly, what are you guys thinking? Do you think Wii owners don't care about Japanese voices? If you spent the money to secure rights to the Japanese voices for the PS2 release, why should that work not carry over to the Wii release? A strategy/dating sim game like this isn't going to have widespread appeal amongst people who only care to play games in English, and there are a significant number of fans who prefer these games in Japanese. Why would you cater to them on one platform, but not another? Please reconsider this and include the Japanese voice track in the Wii version as well.

_______________________________

But I really wanted to send them this:

Why the fuck are you fuckholes fucking over the fucking Wii version of fucking Sakura Wars? Why the fuck do you think it's a fucking good idea to fucking only have the English dub in the fucking Wii version but have the fucking Japanese voices as well in the fucking PS2 version? Fucking retards. Fuck you.

Are you trying to make the Wii version fail? If the Wii version ends up underselling, you know who to blame, you fucking dipshits. It won't be the lack of "hardcore" gamers on the Wii, you fucking cunts. It'll be your own fucking fault.

The PS2 version is on two discs for $40; one which has English voice acting, and one which has Japanese voice acting. The Wii version is one disc for $30, with just English voice acting.

They tried to pull this once before with Phantom Brave: We Meet Again, but then delayed the game so they could put Japanese voices back in, after receiving a ton of complaints from those wanting the Japanese voice track. I wonder why they're trying to do it again?

But yeah, I'm not surprised. I'm really hoping NIS opens up more to other systems. They are extremely Sony loyal, wich I don't necessarily mind... but it just seems like the Wii audience would really do well for them, especially considering that top-notch graphics isn't exactly their forté.

I'm still really pissed about Sakura Wars. I'm sending a message to them right now. Here's what I typed:

I am so disappointed with you guys. Why will the Wii version of Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love not include the Japanese voice track? Are you seriously going out of your way to make the Wii version worse than the PS2 version? Do you not like money? What sense does it make to intentionally gimp one version of the game over another version, when there's no reason to? If the Wii version ends up underperforming in comparison to the PS2 version, do me a favor and don't complain about there being no "audience" for this type of game on the Wii. You'll only have yourselves to blame, for intentionally leaving out the Japanese voice track.

Honestly, what are you guys thinking? Do you think Wii owners don't care about Japanese voices? If you spent the money to secure rights to the Japanese voices for the PS2 release, why should that work not carry over to the Wii release? A strategy/dating sim game like this isn't going to have widespread appeal amongst people who only care to play games in English, and there are a significant number of fans who prefer these games in Japanese. Why would you cater to them on one platform, but not another? Please reconsider this and include the Japanese voice track in the Wii version as well.

_______________________________

But I really wanted to send them this:

Why the fuck are you fuckholes fucking over the fucking Wii version of fucking Sakura Wars? Why the fuck do you think it's a fucking good idea to fucking only have the English dub in the fucking Wii version but have the fucking Japanese voices as well in the fucking PS2 version? Fucking retards. Fuck you.

Are you trying to make the Wii version fail? If the Wii version ends up underselling, you know who to blame, you fucking dipshits. It won't be the lack of "hardcore" gamers on the Wii, you fucking cunts. It'll be your own fucking fault.